Arbuthnot, May Hill (1884–1969)

American children's writer and educator. Name variations: May Hill. Born May Hill, Aug 27, 1884, in Mason City, Iowa; died Oct 2, 1969, in Cleveland, Ohio; dau. of Frank Hill and Mary Elizabeth (Seville) Hill; m. Charles Crisswell Arbuthnot (professor of economics), 1932.

Well-known reviewer of children's books, was kindergarten director at Superior (WI) State Normal School (1912–17); taught summer school courses on children's literature at University of Chicago (1913–22); became principal of Cleveland Kindergarten-Primary Training School (1922); established 1st nursery schools in OH (late 1920s), of which University Nursery School (1929) became most famous; served as national vice president of International Kindergarten Union (later renamed Association for Childhood Education, 1927–29); served on original committee for White House Conference on Children (1930); was associate professor of education at Western Reserve University, later Case Western Reserve University (1927–50); was review editor of children's books at Childhood Education (1933–43) and at Elementary English (1948–50); won many awards and honors, including Women's National Book Association's Constance Lindsay Skinner Medal for distinguished contribution to field of books (1959) and Regina Medal from Catholic Library Association for distinguished contributions to field of children's literature (1964). Co-authored, with William S. Gray, Basic Readers: Curriculum Foundation Series (1940, 1946); authored Children and Books (1947); edited Time for Poetry (1951), Time for Fairy Tales, Old and New (1952), Time for True Tales (1953).